THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thanks for coming. What a
spectacular day. Thank you all for being here. It's great to be in
the land of kind people and tall corn. (Applause.) Laura and I are
proud to be here. We started early this morning in Pennsylvania, then
went to Wisconsin. We're ending our day in this beautiful and
important state. You might remember it's the state that started me on
the way to the nomination four years ago. (Applause.)

We have a -- we've got a real soft spot in our heart for Iowa.
(Applause.) It's going to be even softer -- with your help, we're
going to carry Iowa this November. (Applause.) I'm here to ask for
the vote. I believe you got to get out and tell the people what you
believe and ask for their help, and I'm here to ask for it.
(Applause.) And I'm thrilled to be traveling with Laura. Today I'm
going to give you some reasons why I think you ought to put me back in
there, but perhaps the most important one of all is so that Laura is
First Lady for four more years. (Applause.)

I'm real proud of my running mate. Dick Cheney is a -- (applause)
-- he's a fine guy. You know, it's pretty clear he wasn't the
prettiest face on the ticket. (Laughter.) It's not why I picked him.
I picked him because of his experience, his steady judgment, and
because he can get the job done. (Applause.)

I'm proud to be standing up here with Chuck Grassley. He's a great
United States senator. (Applause.) Every time I talk to him he says,
remember Iowa. You're lucky to have him in the Senate and I hope you
keep him there. (Applause.)

I'm proud also to be here with your Congressman Jim Leach.
(Applause.) He's a fine, honorable, decent citizen of the state of
Iowa, and I'm proud to call him friend. (Applause.) I appreciate all
the statehouse people who are here, the local officials who are here.
I want to thank Majority Leader Chuck Gipp for being here. I want to
thank my friend, Dave Roederer, who is the statewide chairman for this
campaign here. I want to thank all the grassroots activists who are
here. (Applause.) Those are the people who are going to put up the
signs, make the phone calls, and register your friends and neighbors to
vote. (Applause.)

We have a duty to vote in this country. And as you get out to
register friends, make sure you don't overlook discerning Democrats.
You might remember Zell Miller. (Applause.) There's a lot of folks
like Zell who understand, with four more years this country will be
safer, stronger, and better for every American. (Applause.)

We are approaching an historic national election, and the time for
choosing is almost here. This election will come down to the records
we have built, the convictions we hold, and the visions that guide us.
I look forward to campaigning in Iowa a lot. (Applause.) I look
forward to coming -- I'll tell you where I stand. I'll tell you what I
believe. And I'll tell you where I'll lead this country for the next
four years. (Applause.)

I believe that every child can learn and I know that every school
must teach. (Applause.) Because we're challenging the soft bigotry of
low expectations, because we've raised the bar, because we believe we
ought to measure so we can solve problems early, before it's too late,
we're closing an achievement gap in America, and nothing will hold us
back. (Applause.)

I believe we have a moral responsibility to honor America's seniors
with good health care. And I appreciate working with Chairman Chuck
Grassley on strengthening Medicare. It made no sense to have a
Medicare system where the government would pay thousands of dollars for
heart surgery, but not one dime for the medicine to prevent the heart
surgery from happening in the first place. (Applause.) Beginning in
2006, seniors will have prescription drug coverage. Rural hospitals in
Iowa will now be taken care of. We're not turning back. (Applause.)

I believe strongly in the innovative spirit of America's workers,
small business owners, farmers and ranchers. And so we unleashed that
energy with the largest tax relief in a generation. (Applause.) We
have been through a lot together in this economy. We've been through a
recession, corporate scandals, and an attack on our country which cost
us dearly. But because we acted, this economy is strong, and it is
getting stronger.

This morning, we received the jobs report for August. It shows
that our economy has added 144,000 new jobs. (Applause.) Plus
revisions upwards of about 60,000 for the previous two months.
(Applause.) We've added 22,000 manufacturing jobs last month. We've
added over 1.7 million jobs since August of '03. The national
unemployment rate is 5.4 percent. (Applause.) That's lower than the
average of the 1970s, the 1980s, and the 1990s. (Applause.) The
unemployment rate in your state is 4.4 percent. (Applause.) This
economy is strong. The farm economy is strong, and we intend to keep
it that way. (Applause.)

I believe a President must confront problems and not pass them on
to future Presidents and future generations. (Applause.) I believe
the most solemn duty of the American President is to protect the
American people. If America shows uncertainty and weakness in this
decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on
my watch. (Applause.)

I'm running for President with a clear and positive plan to build a
safer world and a more hopeful America. I'm running on a compassionate
conservative philosophy that government should help people improve
their lives, not try to run their lives. (Applause.) I believe this
nation wants steady, consistent, principled leadership, and that is
why, with your help, we're going to win in November. (Applause.)

AUDIENCE: Four more years! Four more years! Four more years!

THE PRESIDENT: The world in which we are living is changing. Just
think about what's happened after a generation. Most people had one job
for their entire career, and most of those people were men. Today
women make up a significant portion of the workplace. They work inside
the home and outside the home. (Applause.) And yet, most of our
fundamental systems -- the tax code, health coverage, pension plans,
and worker training -- were created for the world of yesterday, not
tomorrow. And so, to make sure that citizens are equipped and prepared
and, thus, truly free to make your own choices, we will transform these
systems to make our country a better place.

Any plan has got to begin with making sure that we have a growing.
This global market is expanding, it's creating new markets and new
competitions. To make sure that we have jobs here in America, America
must be the best place in the world to do business. (Applause.) To
make sure jobs are here in America and this economy continues to grow,
Congress needs to pass a sound energy plan and get it to my desk -- an
energy plan that says we'll encourage conservation, that we'll have
clean coal technology, that we'll be wise about how we explore for
resources here at home, but an energy plan, as well, that understands
the great promise of renewables like ethanol and biodiesel.
(Applause.) In order to keep jobs here, we must become less dependent
on foreign sources of energy. (Applause.)

In order to keep jobs here, we've got to get rid of the needless
regulations that harm our small businesses, and we need tort reform so
people can keep their doors open. (Applause.) To have jobs here in
America, we need a level playing field when it comes to trade. We
opened up our markets for foreign goods, and that's good for you. You
see, when you have more choices, you're likely to get the product you
want at a better price and higher quality. What I'm saying to the
world is, you treat us the way we treat you. You see, we can compete
with anybody, anywhere, any time, so long as the rules are fair.
(Applause.)

And one reason this economy is strong in Iowa is because we're
selling Iowa farm products all around the world. (Applause.)

In order to make sure we've got jobs here in America, we need to be
wise about how we spend your money, and keep your taxes low.
(Applause.) It would be a big mistake to run up the taxes on the
American people. To keep the economy strong, we've got to keep your
taxes low.

I tell you, we've got on issue in this campaign. I'm running
against a fellow who has thus far promised $2 trillion in new
spending.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: Now, we've still got a couple of months to go.
(Laughter.) It's awfully tempting out there to tell people what they
want to hear, particularly when it comes to spending your money. So
they said, how are you going to pay for all that money -- all that
spending? He said, that's simple, I'm just going to tax the rich.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, we've heard that before, haven't we? First
of all, you can't raise enough money by taxing the rich to support all
his programs. Secondly, the rich figure out a way to dodge it, and you
get stuck with the bill. But we're not going to let him tax you, we're
going to win in November. (Applause.)

A drag on our economy is the tax code, which is a complicated
mess. It is filled with special interest loopholes. Our people spend
six billion hours of paperwork and headache every year on the tax
code. The American people deserve better and our economy needs a
different tax code. So in a new term, I will lead a bipartisan effort
to reform and simplify the federal tax code. (Applause.)

One way to make sure we've got jobs here is to make sure our worker
training programs work. We're going to reform the WIA, the Workforce
Investment Act. We'll make more money available to our community
colleges to make sure we're able to match the workers with the skills
necessary to fill the jobs of the 21st century. (Applause.)

To make sure people can cope in a changing world, we've got to make
sure our kids get a great education. Most new jobs are filled by
people with two years of college, yet only about one in four of our
students gets there. In our high schools, we'll fund early
intervention programs to help students at risk. We'll place a new
focus on math and science. Over time, we'll require a rigorous exam
before graduation. By raising performance at our high schools, and
expanding Pell grants for low- and middle-income families, we will help
more Americans start their career with a college diploma. (Applause.)

In a time of change, we need to do more to make sure quality health
care is available and affordable. You see, more than one-half of the
uninsured are small business employees and their families. In a new
term, we must allow small firms to join together to purchase insurance
at the discounts available for big companies. (Applause.)

I met with Marshall Petersen today. He runs -- he and his family
run Hawkeye Company. It's a small business here in Cedar Rapids. He
said that the insurance costs have been rising rapidly over the next
years -- over the last years. He's worried about making premiums for
his employees. He supports association health plans, the pooling
efforts, because he believes his business can reduce costs. He said
this is going to allow small businesses to have lower risk. It's going
to allow me to retain quality employees. We must change our way of
thinking about small business insurance in America. (Applause.)

To help more Americans find affordable coverage, we'll offer tax
credits to encourage small businesses, employees to set up health
savings accounts. To make sure medicine is available to all, we will
expand community and health centers all across the country. Every poor
county in America ought to have a community health center.
(Applause.) And to make sure health care is available and affordable,
we got to stop these frivolous lawsuits that are running good docs out
of business and running your costs up. (Applause.)

We have a national problem when it comes to medical liability.
I've talked to docs all over the country who are worried about staying
in business, who are anxious about being able to practice their science
of healing. See, I don't think you can be pro-doctor, pro-patient, and
pro-hospital and pro-plaintiff attorney at the same time. I think you
have to choose. My opponent made his choice and he put him on the
ticket. (Applause.) I made my choice. I am for medical liability
reform now. (Applause.)

In all we do to improve health care in America, we will make sure
the health decisions are made by doctors and patients, not by
bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. (Applause.)

In changing times, in order to bring stability to people's lives,
we must encourage an ownership society in America. One of the great
statistics of the recent times has been the home ownership rate in
America is at an all-time high. (Applause.) Think about that. The
minority home ownership gap in America is closing. More and more of
our fellow citizens are opening up the door to their home saying,
welcome to my house. (Applause.)

Over the next four years, we'll expand home ownership in America.
And to make sure that people have confidence in the future, we must
allow younger workers to take some of their own tax money and set up
personal savings accounts. (Applause.) We'll protect Society
Security. Nothing is going to change, as a matter of fact, for older
citizens and baby boomers like me, when it comes to Social Security.
The fiscal solvency of this system is in question for younger workers.
We must think differently. We must allow younger workers to build
their own nest egg that they can call their own, that they can pass on
to the next generation. Social Security reform needs to be
strengthened now. (Applause.)

What I'm telling you is we have a difference of philosophy in this
campaign. My opponent's programs expand government. My programs
expand freedom and opportunity for every American. (Applause.)

In a changing world, some things don't change: the values we try
to live by, the institutions like family and marriage and religious
congregations that give our society purpose. Because family and work
are sources of stability and dignity, I support welfare reform that
strengthens family and requires work. (Applause.) I support a culture
of life in which every person matters and every person counts.
(Applause.) Religious charities provide a safety net of mercy and
compassion. Our government must support those charities. It must
never discriminate against faith-based programs. (Applause.)

Because the union of a man and woman deserves an honored place in
our society, I support -- (applause) -- I support the protection of
marriage against activist judges. (Applause.) And I will continue to
appoint federal judges who know the difference between personal opinion
and the strict interpretation of the law. (Applause.)

This election will also determine how America responds to the
continuing danger of terrorism. Since that terrible morning, September
the 11th, 2001, we have fought the terrorists across the Earth -- not
for pride, not for power, but because the lives of our citizens are at
stake. (Applause.) Our strategy is clear: we're defending the
homeland; we're transforming our military; we're strengthening our
intelligence services. We're staying on the offensive. We're striking
the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at home.
(Applause.) We're working to advance liberty in the broader Middle
East because freedom will bring the hope and the peace we all long
for. And we will prevail. (Applause.)

Our strategy is succeeding. Four years ago, Afghanistan was the
home base of al Qaeda. Pakistan was a transit point for terrorist
groups. Saudi Arabia was a fertile ground for terrorist fundraising.
Libya was pursuing nuclear weapons. Iraq was a gathering threat, and
al Qaeda was largely unchallenged as it planned attacks. Today,
because the United States and our friends and allies acted with firm
resolve, the government of a free Afghanistan is fighting terror;
Pakistan is capturing terrorists; Saudi Arabia is making raids and
arrests; Libya is dismantling its weapons programs; the army of a free
Iraq is fighting for freedom; and more than three-quarters of al
Qaeda's key members and associates have been detained or killed.
(Applause.) Because we have led, America and the world are safer.
(Applause.)

The progress involved careful diplomacy, clear moral purpose, and
some tough decisions. And the toughest came on Iraq. We knew Saddam
Hussein's record of aggression and support for terror. We knew his
long history of pursuing, even using weapons of mass destruction.
(Applause.) And we know that September the 11th requires our country to
think differently; we must deal with threats before they fully
materialize. (Applause.) In Saddam Hussein, we saw a threat.

I went to the United States Congress -- members of both political
parties looked at the intelligence I looked at, remembered the history
of Saddam Hussein, and came to the came conclusion, he was a threat.
And they authorized the use of force -- one of whom was my opponent.
He looked at the very same intelligence I looked at. He came to the
same conclusion I came to. And when it came time to authorize the use
of force, he voted yes. (Applause.)

The last option of a President is commit troops into combat.
That's why I went to the United Nations. I was hoping that diplomacy
would deal with this threat. The United Nations looked at the same
intelligence I did. They had a lengthy debate, and they came to a
conclusion with a 15-to-nothing vote that Saddam Hussein must disclose,
disarm, or face serious consequences. The free world spoke again. As
he had for over a decade, Saddam Hussein defied the demands of the free
world. He was not about to disclose or disarm. As a matter of fact,
when inspectors were sent into his country, he systematically deceived
the inspectors. So I had a choice to make. I had to make a decision,
a decision that only comes to the Oval Office; a decision no President
would ask for, but must be prepared to make: Do I forget the lessons
of September the 11th and trust the word of a madman, or do I take
action to defend America? Given that choice, I will defend America
every time. (Applause.)

Because we acted to defend our country, because we acted in our
self-interest, 50 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq have been
liberated. (Applause.) Our world is changing. Freedom is on the
march. Think about this. In Afghanistan it wasn't all that long ago
that the people of that country were living in darkness under the rule
of the Taliban, a barbaric group of people who wouldn't even let young
girls go to school, who would whip their mothers in the public square
because they weren't toeing the line completely. Today in Afghanistan,
a brief period after the Taliban have been removed, over 10 million
people have registered to vote in the upcoming presidential election.
(Applause.) It's an amazing statistic, isn't it? People love freedom
around the world. (Applause.) Liberty is powerful.

In Iraq, the country now has a strong Prime Minister, a national
council, and national elections are scheduled in January. (Applause.)
We're standing with the people in those countries. We're standing with
them because they long for freedom and we're standing with them because
when America gives its word, America must keep its word. (Applause.)

As importantly, we're serving a vital and historic cause. Free
societies do not export terror. Free societies in the Middle East will
be hopeful societies which no longer feed resentment and violence for
export. Free governments in the Middle East will fight terrorists
instead of harboring them, and that helps our nation become more
secure. So our mission in Afghanistan, and in -- Afghanistan and Iraq
is clear. We'll help new leaders to train their armies. We'll help
them stand up their own armies so they can defeat the few who are
trying to hold back the demands and the desires of the many.
(Applause.) We will help those countries move toward elections and get
on the path toward stability and democracy as quickly as possible, and
then our troops will return home with the honor they have earned.
(Applause.)

At bases across our country, I've had the high privilege of meeting
with those who defend our country and sacrifice for our security. I've
seen their great decency and their unselfish courage. I want to thank
the veterans who are here for having set such a great example for those
who wear the uniform. (Applause.)

I have made a commitment to our troops and to their loved ones.
They will have all the resources they need to complete their missions.
That's why I went to the United States Congress and proposed $87
billion of funding for body armor and fuel and spare parts and
ammunition, that which was necessary to help our troops in Afghanistan
and in Iraq. (Applause.) We received great support for that
initiative. The support was so strong that only 12 members of the
United States Senate voted against it, two of whom are my opponent and
his running mate.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: As a matter of fact, only four United States
senators voted to authorize the use of force, and then voted against
funding our troops. Two of those senators were my opponent and his
running mate.

AUDIENCE: Booo!

THE PRESIDENT: When asked to explain why, you might remember he
said, I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against
it. He then was asked, he said he's proud of his vote, and he just
finally said when pressed, it was a complicated matter. There's
nothing complicated about supporting our troops in combat. (Applause.)

We put together an alliance to help us. There's nearly 40 nations
in Afghanistan and some 30 nations in Iraq. I appreciate the
contributions these countries are making. Over the next four years,
we'll continue to work with our friends and allies in the cause of
freedom and peace. But I will never turn over America's national
security decisions to leaders of other countries. (Applause.)

I believe in the transformational power of liberty. The wisest use
of American strength is to advance freedom. I'll tell you why I
believe so strongly that societies can change. I've seen it
firsthand. I've spend time at the table with Prime Minister Koizumi.
He's a friend. He's the Prime Minister of Japan. Yet it wasn't all
that long ago, when you think about it, that our dads and grandfathers
were at war with the Japanese in World War II. And yet, here we are,
sitting at a table, talking about the peace. Here we are, talking
about how to deal with Kim Jung-Il in North Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan
and other troubled spots around the world. I doubt my conversations
would be happening if Harry Truman, and Americans right after World War
II did not believe in the power of liberty to transform a society from
one with which we were at war to one that we're now friends with.

Liberty can transform societies. One day, an American President
will be sitting down with the duly-elected leader of Iraq, talking
about how to keep the peace, talking about how to make the world a more
peaceful place. (Applause.)

I've heard the skeptics and the doubters, but I believe that
millions in the Middle East plead in silence for their liberty. I
believe that given the chance, they will embrace the most honorable
form of government ever devised by man. I believe these things because
freedom is not America's gift to the world, freedom is the Almighty
God's gift to each man and woman in this world. (Applause.)

This young century will be the century of liberty. By promoting
freedom at home and abroad, we will build a safer world and a more
hopeful America. We will spread ownership and opportunity to every
corner of this country. We will pass the enduring values of our
country to a new generation. We will continue to lead the world to
promote freedom and peace. (Applause.)

For all Americans, these years in our history will always stand
apart. There are quiet times in the life of a nation when little is
expected of its leaders. This isn't one of those times. This is a
time that needs firm resolve, clear vision, and a deep faith in the
values that makes us a great nation. (Applause.)

None of us will ever forget that week when one era ended and
another began. On September the 14th, 2001, I stood in the ruins of
the Twin Towers. It's a day I will never forget. Workers in hard hats
were screaming at me, "Whatever it takes." I was doing my best to
comfort those who had been in the rubble, and a guy grabbed me by the
arm and he said, "Don't let me down." As I wake up every morning I
think about how to better protect our country. I will never relent in
defending America, whatever it takes. (Applause.)

Four years ago I traveled your great state asking for the vote, and
I made a pledge that if you honored me with this great responsibility,
I would uphold the honor and the dignity of the office to which I had
been elected. With your help, with your hard work, I will do so for
four more years.

God bless. Thank you all for coming. (Applause.) Thank you all.
(Applause.)